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Market report: US giant homes in on Savills as target

US real estate services giant JLL talking up its deal making ambitions spurred City chatter that UK competitor Savills could be in its crosshairs.

Rumours were stoked by JLL boss Christian Ulbrich telling analysts in an earnings call that he has “never seen a market which has so many availabilities with regards to M&A”.

He warned that JLL was “analysing the different opportunities”, claiming that there were many companies “currently interested in finding a new home”. Traders speculated that Savills, which has stepped up its international expansion in recent years, could be its target following an 18pc share price slide since hitting a record high last year.

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US real estate services giant JLL talking up its deal making ambitions spurred City chatter that UK competitor Savills could be in its crosshairs.

Rumours were stoked by JLL boss Christian Ulbrich telling analysts in an earnings call that he has “never seen a market which has so many availabilities with regards to M&A”.

He warned that JLL was “analysing the different opportunities”, claiming that there were many companies “currently interested in finding a new home”. Traders speculated that Savills, which has stepped up its international expansion in recent years, could be its target following an 18pc share price slide since hitting a record high last year.

After being lifted on Tuesday by JLL’s strong results, the unsubstantiated rumours failed to convince investors. Savills gave up early gains to edge 3.5p lower to 839.5p.

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Elsewhere, the FTSE 100 was boosted to a four-month high by signs Donald Trump is softening his stance on the US-China trade war.

The US president revealed that he could extend a 90-day ceasefire to help secure a deal. Currently tariffs on $200bn (£155bn) of Chinese goods will be hiked on March 2 unless a deal is struck.

However, the bullish mood was dampened late in European trading by US Republican Senator Marco Rubio announcing a bill to tax share buybacks like dividends in an attempt to redirect investment back into the economy.

The FTSE 100 gained 57.70 points to 7,190.84 as its mining and packaging sectors led the index to its highest close in four months. Trade optimism lifted Glencore 6.7p to 298.4p while Antofagasta and BHP gained 24.8p to 863.2p and 41p to £17.72, respectively.

Whitbread rallied 138p to £49.01 after confirming at its capital markets day that it will hand investors a bumper £2.5bn payout following the sale of its Costa Coffee business to Coca-Cola.

Engineering giant Rolls-Royce was propelled to a four-month high by City scribblers predicting that it could be behind the worst of its engine woes. Credit Suisse said that the troubled Trent 1000 jet engine “appears to be on the mend” after a technical fix for the problem was approved at the end of last year.

Rolls overcoming its engine gremlins would remove a major risk to its aim of hitting £1bn in free cash flow by 2020, Credit Suisse told clients. The upgrade to “outperform” lifted Rolls shares 28p to 941.6p.

Grocery giant Tesco slipped 4.3p to 219.2p after HSBC predicted that its earnings will suffer a 10pc to 15pc hit from new accounting rules. It warned that food retailers will be “heavily impacted” by the IFRS 16 changes which will mean companies will record leases as liabilities on their balance sheet.

Asos and Boohoo pulled back after Bank of America Merrill Lynch handed the fast fashion giants downgrades. The Aim-listed e-tailers dropped 236p to £28.86 and 5.7p to 188.5p, respectively.